Action Force (weekly) 17
Action Force #17 was released on 21st June 1987. Original material Cold Comfort Part Four Quick Kick watches as the official Cobras rapidly destroy the splinter group the Two-Headed Serpent. He finds Michael Anke preparing a F.A.N.G. for escape and confronts him. Anke pretends he had no choice but uses this as a distraction to throw a knife at Quick Kick. But the martial arts expert claps his hands to stop the knife and throws it away. The two old friends fight at the edge of the roof until Anke leaps at Quick Kick who raises his feet to deflect him. Anke goes over the edge, falling to his death. Later Flint tells Quick Kick that when the official Cobras saw Action Force arriving they turned and fled. He tries to comfort his comrade by pointing out that Anke was rotten, but Quick Kick responds that nothing changes "the fact that I came to save this man - my friend - and ended up killing him! So the comfort you offer is cold comfort indeed!" Featured characters Featured Vehicles & Equipment Errors * Items of note * Meditations in Red Quick Kick is working out, about to try punching through six inches of solid oak wood. The last time he did this he broke his hand. He thinks of the man who taught him - Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung Fu. :Shang-Chi's name means "the rising and advancing of a spirit". He was raised by his father, the immortal and evil Fu Manchu. But Shang-Chi knew nothing of this and believed his father was a noble man dedicated to world peace. But then Shang-Chi was ordered to kill an old man called Petrie. He obeyed without question but then met Sir Denis Nayland Smith who told him the truth. Nayland Smith and Petrie had spent forty years fighting Fu Manchu but were growing old whilst their foe remained ageless and so begged Shang-Chi for help. He agreed and joined them. There were others too - Black Jack Tarr an ex soldier and Clive Reston, a smooth talker. Petrie was later found alive - Shang-Chi only killed a replicant. He realised the only thing he could trust was his training. Quick Kick agrees and thinks of what he was taught: the importance of will power and a single purpose and there are no limits. He succeeds in punching through the wood. Featured characters Errors * Items of note * This strip serves to introduce Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung Fu, and his supporting cast prior to the beginning of reprints from the 1970s Marvel US Master of Kung Fu. * It is one of the only occasions when Action Force or G.I. Joe stories make reference to events in the Marvel Universe. Normally this is a different continuity. * Quick Kick mentions that he has seen other great martial artists including Iron Fist, Batroc and Elektra but Shang-Chi is the best. Reprinted material Eight pages of "Beached Whale" from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #29. The T.A.C. Page This issue contains a T.A.C. Page detailing: * The A.W.E. Striker, written in character by Heavy Metal. * The M.A.R.S. GM 212 Thermite Grenade, written in character by Bazooka. Mail Call! The letters page prints letters on a variety of subjects including advanced notice of the forthcoming Holiday Special. Combat Colin Continuing the first Combat Colin epic "One of our Milkmen is Missing!". Colin and Semi-Automatic Steve meet Doctor Nasty, ruler of Evilonia, who plans to conquer the UK using android milkmen modelled on the one kidnapped, "because everyone trusts a milkman" making infiltration easy. Colin doesn't believe the public will be fooled... until Steve asks one of the androids for two pints! Action Force toy adverts * The issue includes a one-page advert for the A.W.E. Striker and Stinger. Errors * Items of note * From this issue onwards an Assistant Editor credit for Steve White appears on the Mission Control contents page. Footnotes Action Force 17